Catacombs of Saint Gaudiosus

Is it worth the trip?

Yes, if you are visiting the Catacombs of San Gennaro, because one ticket covers both, and San Gaudioso is about 500 m away. Give it an hour, the length of the tour. Do not come for the Roman period alone: what survives from late antiquity is a tomb, some frescoes and a few mosaics, in a catacomb of which only a small part remains (it.wikipedia). The bigger and better-preserved early Christian catacomb is San Gennaro, and San Gaudioso is the strange, memorable second half of the same day.

The visit is a guided tour only, it must be booked, and it does not run on Wednesdays. The catacombs are not wheelchair accessible (OpenStreetMap).

Getting there

The catacombs are under the Basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità, on Piazza Sanità in the Rione Sanità, north of the old centre. The ticket office is at Via Sanità 123, and you enter through the basilica (the operator). A bus stop named for the basilica is about 70 m away, and the public lift Ascensore della Sanità, run by the city transport company ANM, about 90 m (OpenStreetMap). There is no car park by the church; the operator’s free car park is at the San Gennaro catacombs, Via Capodimonte 13.

Tours leave on the hour, every day except Wednesday, from 10.00 to 17.00, and the catacombs close on 25 December. Booking is compulsory (the operator, as archived on 17 October 2026). The last published ticket price was €13, with €9 for students and over-65s, €6 under 18 and free entry under 6; it also covers San Gennaro and is valid for 12 months (the operator, May 2024). Tours run in Italian and English. The operator’s site could not be read directly, so check prices and times when you book.

History

The catacomb probably grew on the site of an older Greek and Roman cemetery, in what was then an uninhabited valley outside the city (it.wikipedia). The operator places Hellenistic tombs and then early Christian catacombs in this valley, and dates the first part of the catacomb to the 4th–5th century.

It takes its name from Gaudiosus, bishop of Abitina in what is now Tunisia. According to the operator, when the Vandals conquered North Africa he refused to convert to Arianism, and King Genseric put him to sea with other exiled Christians in a ship without sails or oars, and chance brought them to Naples. He was buried here between 451 and 453, and his tomb soon became a place of worship (it.wikipedia; the operator); the cemetery also held the tomb of another bishop, Nostrianus (it.wikipedia).

In the 9th century the relics of the saints buried outside the walls, Gaudiosus among them, were moved into the city for safety after the theft of San Gennaro’s relics (the operator). Mudslides from the hill of Capodimonte, the “lave dei Vergini”, buried the valley, and it stayed largely deserted through the later Middle Ages (it.wikipedia). In the 16th century the district was settled again and the catacomb was used once more for burials. In the 17th century the basilica of Santa Maria della Sanità was built directly over the old church or chapel of San Gaudioso, which altered the catacomb deeply and destroyed parts of it (it.wikipedia). The church is dedicated to the Madonna della Sanità of a 5th–6th-century fresco of the Virgin, now kept in the first chapel on the right of the basilica (it.wikipedia).

The Neapolitan actor Totò was born in the Rione Sanità, not far from the catacombs, and one of their frescoes, of Death triumphing over all, is said to have inspired his poem ’A livella (the operator).